Lewis Hamilton and Co to no longer take knee pre-race as F1 chiefs pull plug on gesture

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Lewis Hamilton and his fellow drivers have been instructed that they will no longer have to take the knee prior to races, after Formula 1 chiefs decided to pull the plug on the gesture for the 2022 season.

Across the last two campaigns, all drivers have taken the knee pre-race in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

However, the sport’s chief executive Stefano Domenicali has revealed the idea has been scrapped for 2022, admitting that is time to start taking ‘action’ rather than making ‘gestures’.

The Italian told Sky Sports News: “I think the gesture has been an important gesture because we need to respect everyone, as always.

“But now is the time to move on and take some other action.”

In order to take this ‘action’, F1 announced the launch of its engineering scholarship programme last year, which aims to include under-represented groups in the sport.

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Domenicali continued: “We needed to make sure that what we did was important to show the intention of Formula 1 in things that were really important for the world.

“I think now it’s the matter of [changing] gesture, to action. Now the action is the focus on the diversity of our community, and this is the first step.”

And this programme has been extended by the sport’s chiefs, after 10 students were supported with postgraduate and undergraduate engineering in the UK and Italy, where tuition and living expenses are paid for.

Formula 1’s most recent announcement revealed that the programme had been extended for another four years, up until 2025.

One man who was at the forefront of the sport’s ambition to tackle racial inequalities is Hamilton, and the seven-time world champion’s team Mercedes are said to be supporters of F1’s new stance according to Sky.

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Whilst the decision has been made to scrap the gesture, Domenicali admitted drivers are still welcome to take the knee however it is unknown as to whether Hamilton will continue to do so.

This comes in the wake of a key update in the Englishman’s retirement rumours, after The Sun reported that he was in fact set to return to Mercedes HQ to begin his season prep today.

Hamilton also dropped a huge hint that retirement wasn’t on the cards over the weekend as he took to Instagram to post a picture of himself with the caption: “I’ve been gone. Now I’m back!”

The Englishman’s post broke his two-month social media silence that began after his heartbreaking defeat in Abu Dhabi last campaign.

Speaking about Hamilton’s return, a positive Domenicali said: “I saw the last picture was a light of positivity on his face and his gesture.

“I think that is important because Lewis is an incredible asset not only for our sport but for the world.”

“There was a total respect on his choice to be on silent mode. I think he will be fully charged for the start of the season.

“Lewis has in front of him a possibility to be an eight-time world champion.”

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